A New Begining
by Multidragon
Summary: Given a chance with another Thurston, will he take it? If he does will there be a rebellion within the Gekko itself? In-Progress. Slight AU. Rated M! For later.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING, lol i think that's enough said

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"RENTON!"

Renton came running down the hallway as he heard his name being yelled by a very irritated sounding Talho. He came to a halt a few feet away from Talho, panting a little from the short exercise. He could already see the little vein by the temple of her head and took note of her angry facial expression.

"Y-yes miss Talho?" Renton asked cautiously. Trying not to make her any more irritated then she already looked.

"Why haven't you finished cleaning the bathroom yet? And where is my soda?!" She all but yelled.

Renton was a little caught off guard due to the change in her facial expression. A moment ago her face was telling anyone that they were going to meet certain doom, and now it was smug. Very smug with a fox-wide smile. This made Renton a bit wary of her presence and of what her real purpose of this whole conversation was about. And honestly, He was scared.

"U-uhm. I was just finishing the laundry and was abou-"

"Nope! No excuses. For slacking off again your going to be on cleaning duty for another week. Talho interjected and if possible her smile that now turned into a smirk, grew larger.

"But that's, that's not fair!" Renton protested.

"I said no excuses." She said with a provoking voice, temping Renton to protest some more.

"But-" He said quietly. Looking down at his shoes.

"I. Said. No. Excuses." She drawled out the words slowly, green eyes hardening into a dreadful glare. Not that Renton would be able too see her face, but just in case he look up, he wouldn't protest anymore to her plan.

Renton remain silent after the last spoken words, knowing that it was better to keep quiet and not engage miss Talho into an argument over cleaning duty. That and he kind of gotten used to the cleaning duty, for that was all he does on the Gekko State. He heard a ruffling of clothes and lifted his gaze, only to be met with miss Talho's back walking away from him. She turned hear head to look over her shoulder and met Renton's gaze. They kept staring at each other, blue eyes on green. She then snapped her head back and started to let out that horrible laugh she would use when she tormented Renton.

"_Why am I the only one she picks on."_ Renton thought to himself as he was scrubbing the bathroom floors.

"_What does she have against me?" _He started to scrub harder on the floor starting to get frustrated with why he couldn't figure out why she was out to make his life on the Gekko miserable.

"_Even after all this time that I have been on the Gekko, She never once look at me with a smile or thanked me for anything I did for her." _He sighed. Not knowing what to do anymore then what he was told to do.

He finished with cleaning the bathroom with little to think about. His mind was blank and was absently think about what he was going to do when he finished with the bathroom. He was so lost in his thoughts that he wasn't aware of the person that was quietly walking up to him from behind. When that hand reached out to touch him on the shoulder. He jumped about 2 feet into the air and screamed.

"AAAAHHHHHHGGGG!!!!" Renton quickly turned around to find that Eureka was staring back at him with a stoic face that showed no emotion to his reaction.

"Renton?" Eureka asked concern in her voice but not on her face.

"E-eureka, please don't sneak up behind me like that." He spoke lightly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, but dinner is ready." She informed ignoring the blush Renton had on his face.

"Oh. Thanks Eureka." They stared at each other for a while not knowing what to say next. Eureka's piecing violet eyes looking directly at Renton. Renton could feel his face turning more redder from the scrutiny of her stare but didn't want to break the silence with his of shyness. He honestly didn't like it when people stared at him trying to egg him on for a conversation, and with Eureka it was just… kind of weird. She always spoke, at most - 10 words.

Renton was starting to get more then a little uncomfortable with Eureka staring at him for the past 3 minutes. So he decided to break the silence the only way he could think of at the moment.

"Let's go get some dinner, before it's all gone." He laughed nervously.

"Okay." She informed. Voice going devoid of any emotion again.

"_Oh god why does it always end up like this? She never feels like she wants to talk to me. She only probably feels sorry for me that's all. Maybe.. She doesn't care about me anymore. NO! I have to believe that she's going to love me the way I love her." _Renton thought to himself as they walked through the hallways of the Gekko to the dining room.

As Talho exited the room still laughing, leaving Renton to mope around with his extra week of cleaning duty. She starting to go in the direction of the kitchen to get herself a soda.

"_Adding the part of forgetting to bring me a soda was an excellent last part of that plan."_ She though darkly to herself. Upon entering the kitchen she saw Holland rummaging through the fridge looking for something to snack on before dinner. She saw that he was only clad in his orange boxer again today. She quickly change her facial expression to her normal, relaxed face and spoke in a seductive voice.

"Looking for something _extra _are you?"

Holland slowly raised his view of the fridge's contents to look up at Talho.

"Yeah, I'm looking for something to eat before dinner if that's what your saying." He said coldly as he heard her trying to seduce with that annoying voice of her.

"I see. Could you pass me a soda while your over there?" Changing her voice to normal and walking over towards Holland. Directing her full attention on Holland as he bent over to get a soda from the fridge.

Holland grabbed the soda and righted himself to his normal height and stuck out his arm with the soda in front of Talho. She came to a stop a few feet away from Holland and reached out slowly letting her hands slide seductively over his. Grabbing the can of soda with elegant manicured hands. Holland narrowed his blue icy eye at the contact that was unnecessary.

"Aren't supposed be cleaning the bathroom this week?" Voice both stern and warning when he spoke.

She broke out in a grin "Got Renton doing it for me this week." Her voice was full of cockiness and un-shamed truth.

He narrowed his eye further knowing that she has been giving Renton more cleaning duty that needed to be done and he didn't like she was planning. And if it had anything to do with touching him in unnecessary ways like just a moment ago, he was NOT going to let it go so easily.

"Why are you giving Renton all of the cleaning duties on the Gekko?" He kept his voice calm, not letting the rage that was slowly starting to grow slip past his mouth.

"No reason." She lied quickly.

"Are you sure you don't have a reason?" He leaned his bare back against the fridge, crossing his arms over his chest and looking directly into her green eyes.

"_Crap! He's starting to figure out that I'm giving Renton all of the cleaning duties on the Gekko. If he figured this out it wont be long until he finds out the truth to my plans. Time to change the subject." _She thought.

"Dinner is almost ready. We should get going." She turned around and in a few quick strides, walked out of the kitchen. Leaving Holland with very narrowed eyes burning holes in the back of her head.

Once she left the room he finally relaxed his tense muscles a bit from getting a bit agitated with Talho's behaviour and walking out on him and changing the subject. _"Why did I just stand up for Renton? It's not like he's ever complained about having the cleaning duty on the Gekko. But something just isn't right and if Talho is behind it then something is definitely going to turn out bad."_ He thought and quickly left the kitchen to join the others at the dining room to eat dinner. Even though he kind of lost his apatite talking with Talho.

Everyone was loud. As usual. Holland didn't really mind it being loud at dinner but today, he was kind of agitated with the looks Talho was giving him across from his seat every 30 seconds. Holland just sat there poking at his mashed potatoes and looking around the table. Matthieu was talking with Stoner and looking at some of the photos that Stoner took a while ago. Hilda and Mischa were having a conversation about all of the fooling around that's happening lately due to the lack of chores. The kids were laughing with the faces all smeared with food. Eureka was eating quietly - as always. Renton was reaching out for his drink and was about to take a sip when Gidget accidentally turned and bumped Renton and made his cold drink spill in his lap.

"AHHH!" Renton yelped as the cold liquid quickly seeped through his pants. Jumping up from his seat.

"Oh sorry Rento-" She started to laugh when she saw the wet stain by Renton's crotch.

After she started to laugh everyone turned to look at what the laughter was about. When they saw the wet stain on Renton's pant the dining room started to break out into howling laughs. Renton could feel the heat in his face and he knew that he was probably blushing as red as cherry. Holland just looked over and let a small smile creep up on his face at a blushing Renton, biting his lip from any preventing him to say anything back from the rude jokes being made.

"_Cute."_ Holland thought. He then shook his head from what he just thought of Renton. He could feel his own face heat up just a little from the comment his mind decided to make without his consent. _"I did not just call Renton cute. I just meant that his face was cute at the time. NO! I just thought the situation was cute. I guess…."_ He let the thought drop immediately because the subject was not to his liking. He noticed then that he was still staring at Renton and Renton was staring back. He could feel his face heating up even more from the stare he was getting from him and quickly averted his eyes from Renton's.

Renton was just looking around at the table as they all just laughed at his wet pee stain looking pants. He then spotted Holland staring at him with a blush creeping it's way on his face. He stared at him only to see that the blush was getting darker and locked eyes with him. Sky blue eyes looking at icy blue. The icy blue eyes quickly changing his gaze to somewhere else, all the while blushing. Renton made up his mind.

"I'M GOING TO CHANGE!" With that he ran out of the dining hall sprinting down to his tent.

Once he got to the designated spot the pushed through the door and quickly closed the barrier that blocked his so called room from outside viewers. Leaning his back to the back of the tent that was facing the wall he slowly slid down the wall and onto the floor.

"_Why is my hard racing? Well besides the fact that I just sprinted down half of the Gekko. The face of Holland blushing and staring openly at me was giving me……Butterflies…but, I couldn't like Holland THAT way. I like Eureka. But when I look at Eureka she doesn't give me butterflies. She just makes me fe-"_

His thoughts were cut off as there was someone on outside of his tent.

"Renton?" Eureka called.

"Y-yeah?"

"Renton are you going to be okay? You just ran off so quickly." Her voice questioning.

"O-oh, yeah I'm okay, just need to get changed that's all. Actually I think I'm just going to shower, You should go back to dinner before it gets cold." He said through the tent door. Slowly crawling his way to the corner of the tent where his clothes were.

"Okay, if you say your okay." Eureka said quietly. Barely loud enough for Renton to hear but he heard it nonetheless.

With that said he could hear the slow padding of steps getting softer as they got further away. He let out a sigh as he headed out of his tent to the bathroom getting ready to take a nice long shower that he was starting to look forward to.

Back at the dining room after Renton stormed off announcing his leave, with Eureka slowly walking out of the room in pursuit of seeing if Renton was okay. As the laughter died down Talho made too have another look at Holland and her bright mood from Renton's unfortunate accident, turned sour from the look of Holland blushing and looking down at his mash potatoes. She instantly knew who caused the blushing and she was sure that is wasn't anyone that was in the room that they both occupied at the moment. Talho got up from her seat and loudly announced.

"Okay. Now that, that's done we should start cleaning up the table." Eyes directly pointed in Holland's direction.

"Awwww! But it was just getting fun!" Gidget said sullenly, but got up from her seat and started to collect her plates and place them in a stack in front of her place at the table.

Everyone started to do the same with their plate, cups, and cutlery until Matthieu said.

"Who's gonna wash the dishes?"

At that comment Talho's grin couldn't be scarier for all that she said while leave was.

"Renton."

When Renton got out of the shower he searched through his small pile of clothes that were in a basket in the corner of the room and started to pick out something to wear. He figured that he would just go with a black T-shirt and some shorts that look a bit like his other ones, but since he was going to go to sleep he decided he would put them on tomorrow. As he pulled the black T-shirt over his head and climbed onto his sleeping bag for the night, a very calm and frightening voice stopped him from his actions.

"_Renton._" The tone of the voice was dangerously calm.

"U-uhmm y-yes? What is it?" He asked nervously. He slowly receded in his action from crawling on his sleeping bag to making very ,very slow steps to the door of the tent.

Only to be presented with, none other then, Miss Talho.

"Your washing dishes, _Brat._" She spat out the last words with so much venom it made Renton wince on the other side of the fabric barrier.

Renton opened the door slowly, peeking out of just a bit and saw the angry vein on temple. He knew that he couldn't get out of this job, so he quietly left his ten and closed the door slowly behind him as he made his trek to the kitchen. He was fully aware of the green eyes glaring daggers at his disappearing figure from hers.

When Renton arrived to the dining room to collect the plates he knew that he was going to be there for at least an hour and a half. He sighed and started to collect the plates because he knew that complaining wouldn't get the job done faster. Not that he was happy about washing the dishes this late a night but if he got this done faster then he could get to bed faster. Once he got all of the dishes by the sink he started to fill the sink with soapy warm water. He waited until it was at least three-fourths of the way full when he turned to water off. Renton got the wash cloth and dipped it into the water and grabbed the first plate keeping it under the water longer then necessary and sighed again. He began to scrub the plate clean and placed it in the other sink parallel to the sink filled with water. Just as he was going to grab another plate to wash a figure appeared next to him.

"Need a hand?" Holland asked with a small smile gracing his features.

"Oh! If it wouldn't be of any trouble. I mean, Y-you don't have to." He replied back, looked up and gave a small smile of his own.

"I don't mind." Holland said and grabbed a dry cloth to dry the clean ones in the empty sink. Awaiting for Renton to continue his washing.

"O-ohh. Thank you." Renton said quietly with sincerity apparent in his voice.

They washed and dried in reletive silence only the sound of swishing water and clanging of plate being stacked upon each other was heard.

"You know…." Holland trailed off. Trying to find a good way to say what was on his mind.

"Hmmm?" Renton questioned and glanced to his left to see Holland drying a plate.

"I've been wondering why haven't you complained about getting all of the cleaning duties on the Gekko whenever Talho forces you to take them?" Holland asked a bit uncomfortable with bringing up Talho.

"Oh…Well, It's not that I enjoy doing all of the cleaning duties. It's just that when she glares at me when I start to protest I kind of you know….get scared a bit. It's as if she wants me to argue back, but never mind! It doesn't really matter anymore I know that I won't get away with it so I just do it so I don't have to waste anymore time arguing about it." Renton finished his explanation mildly embarrassed at his confession of being scared of miss Talho.

Holland grunted as a sign that he was still listening and after a few minute of drying the last of the dishes, he turned to Renton.

"Come to me whenever you get forced to do another job by Talho. I'll come and help, though I'm not really good at cleaning." Holland said with a genuine smile on his face.

"Y-y-you don't h-have to do t-that. I'm p-pretty s-sure that your busy w-with your own schedule to d-do. I-I don't want to b-bother you or anything." Renton was stuttering so much at the offer and the smile that same with it, he could feel his face heating up. His eyes looked down in the murky water in the sink and decided to unplug it because he had nothing to do that would distract him with his fumbling tongue.

"Renton." Holland said with authority in his voice.

Renton quickly looked up at Holland because the sudden change in this voice.

"Yeah?" he asked quietly, not knowing how to react in the situation.

"Promise me that you'll come to me when she forces you to take a job." He said sternly

"But I-I don't want to distu-"

"Promise me Renton!" Holland cut Renton off raising his voice a little.

"O-okay, I promise to come to when I get a new job from Talho." Renton replied quietly, looking up at Holland. Sky blue eyes looking up a icy blue.

"Good. Now, lets get to bed. It's late." Holland turned and broke their eye contact walking towards the door to get to his own room.

"Holland?"

"Yeah?" He looked over his shoulder.

"Thank You." Renton said with sincerity

"No problem. Good night, Renton." He said and started to walk towards the door again.

"Good night, Holland." Renton started to follow Holland out of the kitchen and towards his tent. They looked at each other one last time for the night and went their separate ways.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still own nothing. -_-

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Morning came all to fast for Renton. He couldn't sleep last night because of the promise that he had to make to Holland while they were washing the dishes. Renton didn't even know why Holland decided to help him out washing the dishes. He never helped me with any of the cleaning duties on the Gekko before. _"Maybe Holland isn't the only one that's getting forced to do the unwanted jobs on the Gekko by miss Talho."_ He mused to himself. As Renton tried to get up and open his eye, he felt something holding him down or constricting him and preventing him to sit up easily. Opening his eyes, vision a little groggy from just waking up. Blinking a few times to focus his sight. Renton looked down and saw why he couldn't move so freely, for he was trapped inside of his sleeping bag by poorly knotted ropes. He instantly knew who it was who this to him.

"ARRRGGHHH!!!" Renton screamed. He could just not get a normal morning around here!

Renton wiggled out of the tent still constricted by the ropes, wondered how he didn't wake up when they were doing this. Was he that tired? He continued wiggling his way to the door to just find anyone who would untie him from these accursed ropes and get those kids back. Renton finally reached the door and was about to slide the door open with his head, the door quickly slid open.

"Hiya Renton~" Maeter said in a cheery voice. Looking down on him with mischief in her eyes.

"Hi! Renton!" Linck yelled as he appeared beside Maeter.

"Good morning Renton" Maurice coldly greeted him. Hatred evident in his eyes.

Renton stayed on the floor, his mind blank. Finally after a few moments he remembered why he was on the floor looking up at the three monsters that constantly ruin his chances with Eureka. Seething with anger, he yelled at the three.

"Untie me NOW! You little brats!" Screamed Renton. Struggling against the confines of the ropes.

"Hahahaha, You're so uncool Renton." Maeter chimed above him.

"Haha, uncool, Renton you're uncool!" Linck giggled.

"What would you know about being cool? You're still a bunch of kids." Renton countered. In the back of his mind he knew that arguing with the kids weren't going to solve his problems, but it felt good to let out the stress on someone. Or in this case, the 3 demons.

"But you're a kid too!" Linck yelled back.

"No I'm not, I'm an adult!" Renton snorted back.

"Then do you have hair down there?" Maeter commented. Grinning knowingly.

"Wh-what?" His anger quickly dissipated as he turned bright red from the question.

Renton heard a quiet "pop" sound and turned to the noise from where it originated from. Maurice was holding up the infamous marker. He turned back to the other two, only to be met the same markers in their hands. He slowly backed away from the trio and looked over his should how far it was to his tent. Only a few feet away. _"I could make it if I distract them."_ He thought. Renton turned back and they were already standing in front of him, markers ready for their obvious destination. In one swift movement they jumped on him and started to draw on his face.

"AHH, Get off of me!" Renton voice was a bit muffled by the struggling.

"Hold him still Maurice!" Maeter yelled.

"I'm trying!" Maurice called back.

"When I get out of this sleeping bag you guys are so dead!" Renton was still struggling away from the markers. Even though it was a bit too late. He had a lot of lines and dots sporting his face already, but it didn't mean he wanted more.

The sound of the door sliding open forcefully stopped everyone in their actions. There in the doorway was Holland clad in only his orange boxers.

"What is going on in here?!" He yelled. Already grumpy from the rude awaking.

"We were only having some fun." Maeter spoke quietly.

"Yeah, because Renton is so uncool!" Linck spoke more louder then Maeter, unaware of Holland's more then grumpy mood.

"It was only-" Maurice started.

"Kids" Holland interjected. His voice dark and warning

"Y-yes?" They spoke at the same time being cautious of their words.

"Get to breakfast." He said. Finality distinguishable in his voice.

"But-" Maurice started again only to be cut off.

"NOW!" He burst out, finally losing all of his patients. Glaring at the kids for testing him.

The kid ran out of the room faster then they have ever before. Holland then turned to Renton, who was on the floor eyes wide and not moving a muscle. His eyes softening as he looked at Renton. He sighed and walked over to the figure on the floor. He crouched down beside Renton and started to untie the ropes in silence. Once they were all untied, he slowly unzipped the sleeping bag so Renton could get out only to stop a little bit past the chest. He froze as he noticed Renton was only dressed in his boxers. Renton finally catching on, why Holland stopped. Renton looked down and started to blush like mad. Renton quickly grabbed the sleeping back up again to cover himself.

"Th-thanks Holland." Renton thanked quietly. Still sporting that blush on his face.

"N-no problem." Holland hastily replied. Holland stare at Renton's face for a while a let out a chuckle.

"What?" Renton asked quietly. Averting his gaze from certain areas.

"You-should really- wash off those-markers streaks off-your face!" He burst out laughing.

"That- that's not funny!" He yelled, glaring at the older man. Renton quickly unzipped himself from the sleeping bag, revealing his whole body.

His laughs quickly died down when the body was revealed to him. Smooth, soft., pale looking skin. Hairless legs and chest. A bit of sweat shining off of Renton's body from the struggling of earlier events. Renton was biting his bottom lip, indicating that he was pouting. Holland could feel his face heating up from the sight in front of him. He quickly got up and turned around. He heard some shifting of fabric telling him that Renton got up.

"Breakfast will be done soon." Holland informed, looking over his shoulder when he spoke.

"Oh, Okay." It was all Renton could say when he saw the red dusting Holland's cheeks.

Holland quickly walked out of the room and started to head for his room.

"_God what the hell am I thinking! He's freaking 16 years old. Oh god I feel like a pervert."_ Holland quickly opened his door and closed it just a quick when he was inside. He stood there for a while with nothing processing in his mind. He sighed and finally went to the bathroom that was connected with his room. He slid opened the door to the bathroom and proceeded to his destination not caring to slide the door closed because he already locked his door to his room. He turned the water to almost scalding hot, just the way he liked it and turned it on the shower. He quickly took of his boxers and stepped in the shower. He let his thoughts wander as he relaxed into the hot water.

"_Why am I letting that kid get the better of me? Am I getting soft?"_ He sighed. _"Maybe I'm just over thinking things, but this is the second time that I stood up for Renton. I wasn't even thinking properly when I was doing it either, It just happened. Like I was in a daze." _He put his head under the shower head letting his hair soak for a while. He grabbed the shampoo and poured a generous amount in his palm. He leaned his head out of the path of flowing water and rubbed his hands together, then started to lather his hair up with the shampoo. Letting his hands massage his scalp a little, he let out another sigh and relaxed further. He finally leaned back into the flow of water to wash out the suds and this time grabbing the body wash. Pouring about the same amount as he did with the shampoo and lathered up his body and washed it off after he thought it was enough.

"_Well lets see how the rest of the day turns out. Hopefully nothing too annoying doesn't get up in my face. Well, besides Talho."_ He groaned just thinking of the name. _"How annoying could one person get? I knew she would have took it the wrong way when I took her aboard the Gekko."_ He sighed once again at his mistake, but it was for the good of the crew. We needed a pilot. _"But she never gets a fucking goddamn clue that I'm not interested!"_

Holland got out of the shower and grabbed a fluffy white towel and started to dry himself. He then wrapped the towel around his waist and entered his room in search for a clean pair of boxers to wear. He turned to his right once out of the bathroom and to the drawer that was in the corner of his room. He pulled the top handle of the drawer and looked at his boxers. _"3 boxers left. I have to wash my clothes soon."_ He though and looked at the pile of boxers in the corner. He returned his gaze back to his drawer and fished out any boxer that he first grabbed - they all looked the same anyways. Slipped them on and took the towel from his waist to dry his hair. As he was headed to the door he stopped. _"I have a strange feeling that I should wear my clothes today." _He turned again, This time to his closet and grabbed a pair of pants and his normal shirt, jacket, and scarf. Put them on and headed down to the dining room for breakfast.

Once he entered the dining room he was already met with loud laughter and conversations that barely made sense. He chose to ignore most of the useless junk his ears were hearing and decided to take his seat beside Matthieu and Hap. He honestly didn't want to sit anywhere near Talho today. Looking down at his plate he saw that there was scrambled eggs and some bacon with some toast on the side. He took his fork and stabbed it into a piece of bacon and slowly ate it, not really hungry this morning.

Renton came in the room just a few moments later after Holland. He quickly made his way to the only seat that was available, across from Holland. He sat down without a word and looked at his own plate. There were hash browns, toast and 3 slices of bacon. He shifted uncomfortably and tried to get a better position to sit in, but accidentally touched Holland's leg with his own.

"Opps, Sorry." Renton muttered.

"It's alright." Holland said across from the table. And silence once again took the two, until Holland broke it.

"Hey Renton?" Holland asked.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"C-can I have some of your hash browns? I don't want my eggs." He asked a bit sheepishly.

"Oh. Sure." Renton said and grabbed his plate. They switched plates and that's when they registered that everyone stopped what they were doing and started to stare at them. Mouths agape.

"What?" They both said, looking at each other then back at the rest.

"Nothing." Hap said. Shaking his head.

"Nothing indeed." Woz chuckled.

"Never thought it would happen." Matthieu said dryly. Looking over to Stoner.

"Haha, you owe me 20 bucks!" Stoners voice full of victory. And took a photo.

"Damn!" Matthieu muttered darkly.

"What?!" Renton and Holland both said again. Starting to get annoyed with not knowing what they were talking about.

"We all made a bet that you two." Hilda pointed to both of them. "Wouldn't be able to act like civilize people. Without biting each others heads off." She finished off. She turned to Mischa.

"Looks like I owe you 20 bucks." She let her head hang. Her voice sullen.

Mischa just chuckled behind her hand. An all knowing smile behind her hand.

"Alright! Let's just finished eating so _Renton_ can start washing the dishes." Talho said slyly, a grin on her face.

Renton looked at her with an incredulous expression on his face. _"But I just washed the dishes yesterday! Why is she making me wash them again today?"_ Renton thought. He was going to say what he was think but his mouth wouldn't work. It just hung open and he didn't want to argue with miss Talho today, that and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of everybody. He felt himself nod in agreement and slowly started to eat his food again, not saying anything as he ate for the rest of the meal. Unaware of Holland's concerned look.

Holland was the first to finish his breakfast, so he got up and went around the table, walked to the seat Renton was sitting, leaned down and whispered in his ear.

"I'll meet you in the kitchen and help you wash the dishes."

"But-" Renton protested in a whisper. Only to silence himself when he looked at Holland's face. He just nodded in agreement and resumed to eating the rest of the breakfast. Making sure that he was last to finish so he can gather up the plates without waiting for anyone to finish.

When everyone was done eating and left. Eureka came back and stood beside Renton.

"Are you sure that you're okay with washing the dishes? It's not your turn to wash them today." She said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah it's alright." He said and forced a smile on his face.

"Do you want help washing the plates?" She asked unsure.

He shook his head. "No, you should get back to watching the kids before they cause some trouble for the crew."

Eureka nodded and left without another word.

Renton sighed and started to stack the plates of the table and put them into the bin so he could carry them to the kitchen all at once. When he got to the kitchen he saw Holland leaning against the fridge and miss Talho sitting on the counter across from the fridge. Whatever conversation they were having, they stopped when Renton entered the kitchen and put the bin of plate beside where Talho sat. Talho give Renton a dirty look before getting off and headed out the door. Before she left she turned her head.

"Remember that my offer still stands." she said through gritted teeth. Renton looked at Holland for an answer, but Holland just shrugged it off.

"We should get started." Holland stated.

"Oh. Oh yeah" Renton laughed nervously. Forgetting what he was supposed to do.

Holland leaned off of the fridge and got two wash cloths from the cupboard, one for him to dry with and the other for Renton to wash with. While he was grabbing the wash cloths Renton started to fill the sink with water and soap. He waited until the sink was at least three-fourths full again and turned off the water. He turned to Holland who held out his hand with one wash cloth to Renton looking away shyly. Renton took the cloth, not knowing where Holland's hand was and accidentally touch his hand in the process of grabbing the cloth. Holland quickly snapped his head back in the direction of Renton, both of their faces in surprised expressions. The simple contact brought a electrical vibe of skin touching skin. Renton was the first to recover by grabbing the cloth and muttered a "sorry." They washed in peaceful silence until a question popped up in Renton's head.

"Why are you doing this?" Renton asked suspiciously.

"Hmm?" Was Holland's reply with an elegant raised eyebrow.

"Well, I thought that you were busy with important stuff, like making battle plans, or thinking of some new cool move to make up when you lift. You know?" He said bluntly. Looking back at what he was doing so he didn't have to look Holland directly in the eyes.

Holland began to chuckle, and those chuckles soon turned into full fits of laughter. They quieted down after a while when he saw that Renton had a serious face on.

"You don't know do you?" Holland said teasingly.

"Don't know what?" He asked, curious now.

"Well with you doing all of the cleaning duties on the Gekko and nothing going on right now, all I do is lounge around and watch TV." Holland filled in truthfully.

Renton stared incredulously at Holland's amused face. _"I was doing all of the work on the Gekko?!" _Renton thought to himself. Renton turned back to his task scrubbing a little hard then needed. He needed something to vent his anger with at least, and the plate was already in his hands. Holland's sharp eyes caught the harsh scrubbing and he thought of something fast, because he didn't want thing to turn out awkward.

"You can think about it this way, _now_ I am helping with the cleaning duties." He informed as friendly as possible.

Renton stopped in his scrubbing, and sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thank you." He muscles started to relax a little from the reassurance that he wasn't going to be doing everything alone anymore.

Holland let a small smile creep up on his face for making Renton a little more relaxed around the Gekko. They finished the dishes quicker then they thought and Renton unplugged the drain to officially finish the task. Holland turned to Renton and thought of something to say or do or anything really.

"Sooooooo, anything else you have to do today?" Holland asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Ehhh?!" Was all Renton could say.

"You know any more chores that need to be done." Stating the obvious. Holland's smile only grew at the confused face of Renton's.

"I only need to do the laundry for today and then I'll have nothing to do for the day, That is unless miss Talho finds something out of no where for me to do." Renton replied, his eyes downcast to his shoes.

"Oh. OHH." As Holland remembered about his boxer problems. "I need to do some laundry, I'm running out of clothes. I'll meet you down by the laundry room in a few minute. I need to pick up my clothes." Holland said as he made his way for his room. All Renton could do was stare at the disappearing man with a dumbfounded expression. When Renton came out of his stupor, He wiped up the kitchen area of any water and headed towards the laundry room.

"_Well, that was some perfect timing. I just said that I needed to do some of my laundry. And to my luck, I get some help." _Holland thought, wandering the halls of the Gekko at a leisurely pace. While he was walking he remembered the disturbing event he had with Talho before Renton came.

_FLASHBACK_

_Holland was rummaging through the fridge as he waited for Renton to arrive. He was deciding which drink he should take, orange juice or cola. He settled with the orange juice considering that it was still the morning and too early for a sugar high. He took the carton of juice and went over to the cupboard to retrieve a cup, that's when he noticed Talho staring from the doorway._

"_Why does it always have to be in the fucking kitchen!" Holland thought to himself._

"_Hey." She greeted normally, for once._

_He grunted in response and continued on his task of pouring himself a glass of orange juice._

"_Hey Holland…." She trailed off. "Are you doing anything today? B'cuz if not, then wanna go in tow-"_

"_I don't wanna go anywhere today." He stated flatly. He heard footsteps indicating that she was walking towards him. He decided to ignore her and drink his juice._

"_Oh, well if your not in the mood to go anywhere-" She started, now behind him. "We can always do something else." Her voice dripped of seduction. She brought her hand and firmly grabbed Holland's ass. Holland just took the first sip of his juice and almost choked on it when he felt her grabbing his ass. He quickly slammed the cup down. Effectively spilling the contents inside everywhere and almost breaking the glass. Turned around to face Talho and glared. Hard._

"_What. The. He-" He was cut off when a pair of unwanted lips crashed into his. She quickly wound her arms around his neck and bringing their bodies more closer together. Holland stood there for a while until finally he registered what was happening. He turned both of their bodies around, so that Talho was against the counter instead of him, and shoved himself away. Keeping himself at least at arms length away now. Feeling enraged by her behaviour._

"_What the fuck is wrong with you!?" He said angrily._

"_Nothing." She replied quickly, turning around and taking a cloth, wiping the counter and putting the glass in the sink. She then turned around and sat on the counter. They stared at each other for a while - one glaring._

_She was about to say something lewd when Renton walked in. She immediately closed her mouth and gave a dirty look to Renton. She got up from her spot and walked out of the kitchen. Only to stop and turn her gaze to Holland._

"_Remember my offer still stands."_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Holland arrived at his room and slid open the door went to the corner of his room where all of his used boxers laid. He eyed to pile for a while and wondered how was he gonna get them to the laundry room. He didn't have any laundry baskets in his room, and he didn't want to go searching any of them now, considering that he just got to his room. He looked around and spotted a duffle bag sitting by the TV. He went over there to check the contents of the bag.

Nothing.

"_Good."_ He thought and picked it up and started to stuff the bag full of boxers. Once full he zipped it up and headed out for the laundry room.

When Holland arrived in the laundry room Renton was already loading some of the clothes in the washer. He walked over and put the duffle bag down by the washer and looked over to the ironing place. Grimacing from all the clothes that had to be ironed and folded. Renton finished putting in the detergents and started the washing contraption, that Holland had no clue on how to get the damned thing to work. Renton looked over in Holland's direction and then down at the duffle bag.

"What kind of clothes are in there? Because I just loaded in the colours, If there are anything that are colours in that bag then I'll do it later." He said not too excited.

"Uhh." Was the only reply he got.

Renton sighed and went to go reach for the bag, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist. Renton looked up and saw a hue of red crossing Holland's face. Renton smirked and went to go grab the bag with his other hand. Holland's eyes widening at the hand. Once his hand landed on the bag, he yanked it back. He then tried to find the zipper to open it, but it was pulled back, Renton didn't let go. He pulled back and this happened for quite a while. Holland's face twisting in horror as he was losing his grip.

"Let go!" Renton cried out and pulled it back.

"No! You let go!" Holland cried back. Pulling the bag back towards him.

"I can't." Renton pulled back and put a hand on the zipper finally able to locate it. "Do the laundry if you don't give me the clothes!" Holland pulled it again but when he did Renton's fingers were on the zipper and it opened. Spilling the contents inside onto the floor.

Renton stared eye-wide as he saw the dozens of boxers laying on the floor. He looked up to look at Holland and saw that Holland was looking to his side trying to hide the blush taking over his face.

"WH-WHAT THE HELL?!?!" Renton screamed, looking back at the pile of boxers with an incredulous expression.

"I told you to just let go." Holland pouted.

"When, when was the last time you washed your boxers?! And why do they all look the same?!" He asked genuinely curious and amazed at the collection.

"They were on SALE!" Holland answered. Turning a deeper shade of red. " Now if your done investigating my stuff, can we just wash them and get this over with!"

" Well….. We kind of…. Have to… wait." He said still staring at the pile of boxers.

"What the hell? Why?" Holland asked, not getting why they couldn't just do it now.

"What do you mean? Why? The other clothes are washing, that's why!" He pointed to the washing machine. His voice exasperated from the dumb question.

Holland looked over and started to rub the back of his head in a bit of embarrassment. "Oh."

Renton turned and walked away from Holland, ready to get back to his task.

"H-hey where are you going?!" Holland started to panic, thinking that he would have to try and wash his own boxers without help.

Renton turned around with a small smile on his face. "To finish ironing so I can finish this laundry faster."

"Ahh." He felt relief come over.

"Are you going to stand there or are you going to help me fold?" Renton asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh? Oh, right" He started to trek over to where Renton was and sat down cross-legged on the other side of the small ironing board was. He watched as Renton ironed the first shirt and folded the shirt perfectly, then put it on the side. He did the next shirt and handed it to Holland to fold so he could iron the next. Holland took the shirt hesitantly and tried to copy how Renton folded. He failed miserably. He tried again, but it ended the same way, wrinkled and uneven folds. He looked down at his work and frowned.

Renton looked up and saw the hardly folded shirt and scowled a little. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me. You don't know how to fold a shirt?" He asked.

He looked up at Renton's face and saw the scowl there and his own frown deepened.

"No. I don't." He replied dryly.

"I don't think that I'll be able to trust you with the iron now." Renton smirked when he saw Holland biting his lower lip, pouting a little.

"Sh-shuddap." He could feel the heat raising to his face.

Renton chuckled a bit and went back to his ironing. They sat in a peaceful silence as Renton continued on the job at hand while Holland just watched and observed. It wasn't long before the silence was broken when the buzzer went off, signalling that the washer was done with the load of clothes. Renton sighed and got up setting the iron aside.

"We're going to wash all of the underwear at the same time, because of your…uhm.. collection of boxers is a lot." He said, not knowing how to say it any differently.

"They're not a collection! I already said, They. Were. On. Sale!" Holland said a bit exasperated. _"They are not a collection." _Holland thought.

"Whatever, whatever." Renton waved it off with a lazy hand gesture. He started to make his way to the washing machine and put the wet clothes in the dryer beside it, put some dryer sheets in, and turned the dryer on and started to make his way to the corner of the room where there were four different baskets, jeans and pants, colours, whites, and underwear's. He took the underwear basket by the handles and lifted it up.

"You can pick up all of your boxers and put them in the wash." He instructed, he saw a boxer had fallen out of the basket and picked it up, making him lag a bit behind Holland.

Holland did as he instructed and picked up all of his boxer and dropped them all in the wash, he turned around and started to walk towards Renton to help carry the basket. Renton was heading toward Holland knowing he would take the basket, but when his foot got caught of something, something that was horribly fold and in his way.

"AHHH" Renton tripped and made all the underwear fly across the room as he fell on something softer then the floor. He groaned at the feeling of being disoriented and lifted his head, blinking a few times to refocus his vision. He was laying across of Holland's stomach. What he saw a wide-eyed Holland with a pink, VERY frilly bra on his head coming down to cover the left side of his face with the cup of the bra. Holland was staring at Renton who had a big dark green pair of boxers over his head slipping down more to cover his eyes. They started to chuckle, and those chuckles soon turned into howling laughter. After a few moments the laughter died down, and the collected themselves off the floor and put the rest of the laundry in the was.

"I wonder who's bra that one was?" Renton asked amused.

"Who knows? It's probably reeeaaaly uncomfortable. I bet it's Gidget's though." Holland replied also amused. They both chuckled a bit from that comment.

Renton poured in the detergents and went back to his ironing from before. Holland followed and they sat in the same positions as before. Across from each other. They sat in a more comfortable silence then they did before. This went on until they heard the buzzing noises of both the washer and dryer, signalling again that the laundry was done. Renton got up and grabbed the dry clothes and put it in a pile beside where the iron was, so he could iron those next. Then he took all the wet clothes and put it in, turned the dryer on and got back to his ironing. Another 30 minutes past by and Holland dozed off leaning against the wall while sitting. Renton just finished when Holland woke when the a buzzing noise interrupted his slumber. Holland rubbed his eyes and saw as Renton got up, stretched a bit and walked over to the dryer.

"They're dry." He said not wanting to be loud when Holland just awoke.

Holland yawned and got up, Stretching a little more then Renton did, he heard a few pops from his spine. He grimaced, from feeling a little old. He looked over and saw that all the clothes have been ironed and perfectly folded into different group. A pile of clothes for each person aboard the Gekko. He smiled as an idea appeared out of no where in his mind.

"Hey Renton!" He said a bit excited.

Renton turned after grabbing all of the clothe from the dryer. "Yeah?"

"You doing anything after this?"

"No, Why?" Renton said questionably not getting where it was going.

"Wanna go lift after your done?" Still a bit excited, He hasn't lifted in a few days and he was looking forward to do it sometime.

Renton's face lit up at the suggestion and put on a big smile that reached his eyes. " Yeah! That sounds awesome!"

"Great, meet me at my room when your done in here." He said as he headed for Renton and grabbed his duffle bag on the way. He picked out all of his boxers from the nice and warm pile of underwear. It wasn't really hard to figure out where his boxers were, they were the only orange ones in the pile. Once done packing all of his boxers he headed towards the door. He looked over his shoulder, and saw Renton still smiling.

"Don't forget your board." He called over his shoulder and left.

* * *

When Holland entered his room, the first thing he did was go over to his drawer and put away his boxers. He stuffed them in quickly and went to his bed. He laid face down into the pillow _"Ugh, I'm still tired. Maybe we should eat lunch before we go out to lift."_ He rolled over so that he was looking at the ceiling. "Renton." He softly muttered. He felt a warm feeling in his chest, stomach doing little flops as he closed his eyes and remembered Renton's smiling face. The feeling grew more stronger and warmer in his chest. He smiled to himself. _"Maybe Renton isn't that bad after all."_ He thought to himself. A knock on his door brought him back to reality.

"Come in." He said lazily on the bed.

When Talho came through the door, the warm feeling he had turned cold. _"Fuck my life! If I knew it was her I wouldn't have let her in!" _Holland mentally slapped himself.

"What do you want?" He said coldly. He was not in the mood to put up with Talho's irrational behaviour at the moment, He was a bit tired.

"I was just wondering if you were still up for that offer?" She said adding a little extra sway in her hips as she walked over to the bed.

He quickly snapped his head in her direction and glared daggers at her. The glare did nothing in stopping her in advancing towards him. He quickly sat up and then got off the bed, knowing that being on the bed didn't help the situation he was in. and headed to turn the TV on. When he turned the TV on he changed the channel to the weather report to see if there were any good waves that were happening soon. Once he found the channel he turned around and saw Talho slowly taking off her shoes, socks, and slowly taking off her top.

"What the fuck are doing?!" He asked in shock and anger. Mostly the latter of the two.

"Making things easier for you." She said in an saccharine voice.

"Well I didn't say yes, to your offer!" He said voice shaking in anger and slowly losing his patience.

"You didn't say no." She moaned when she squeezed one her breasts. Holland clenched his jaw insolence.

"Well I thought you would have gotten the message when I fucking left the bed and turned on the TV." He said through gritted teeth. His patience dissipating at a rapid rate.

"You never know, you could have just went over there to turn something sexual on and make this even more erotic." She said and moaned again.

At that last comment he lost. He stormed out of his room and leaving Talho alone in the room. He stomped through the halls and was about to turn around a corner to head to the dining room he accidentally crashed into Renton and knocked him over. Renton groaned from the sudden crashed and from the weight that was on. He opened his eyes to see a head of grey hair and instantly knew who it was. Holland shook his head and still indignant from the events a few minutes ago. Holland lifted his head to see what or who he knock over and was about to give them a piece of his mind. When to look up he was not even an inch away from Renton face. Holland's indignation flew out the window he realized their position.

Renton was underneath him, arms sprawled out above his head. Holland was pressed against Renton's body. His own arms, hands to elbow were beside his head and in between his legs. They stayed like that for a few moments until they heard 3 loud kids screaming down the corridors towards them. They quickly removed themselves from each other and avoided eye contacts, blushing as red as can be.

"Sorry." Holland muttered.

"I-It's alright." Renton answered back.

"Hi Holland, Renton." Eureka greeted.

They both turned to her when their names were called "Hey Eureka." They greeted the same time. Looked at each other and averting their eyes to somewhere else.

Eureka stared for a while not getting it, but shrugged it off. "The kids and I were going to get some lunch. Do you want to come join us?" At the mention of the kids, they all popped out from behind Eureka and stuck their tongues out at Renton.

"Hey Holland." Maurice greeted.

"Hai! Holland!" Maeter said cheerily.

"HII!" Linck just screamed.

Holland nodded towards the kids and turned to Eureka. "Sure. I was just heading there to get something to snack on." He turned his gaze to Renton, who looked back at him. "Renton you hungry?"

"Uhm, I guess, a little." He said not too certain.

With that, they all headed to the dining room to see if lunch was ready yet.

When they got to the dining room they noticed that mostly everyone was there just a few empty seats. They all sat down, the kids beside each other and next to Eureka. Renton sat in the middle of Eureka and Holland. The dining room loud as usual. Eureka, Holland and Renton didn't talk much, not that they talked a lot while eating in the first place. When the food was done they were served, some soup - the contents of the soup unknown, but ate it anyways, a side salad and a piece of toast with butter. Holland and Renton didn't eat much of their lunch, not really feeling hungry anymore. When Holland had enough of all the noise he leaned over and whispered in Renton's ear.

"Wanna go lift now? I'm getting a little bored in here."

Renton turned his a little and let a smile on his face. "Okay!" He said with renewed vigor.

Everyone turned to see the two get up and ready to leave, both having smiles placed on their faces.

"Where are you two going?" Matthieu asked curiously.

"Hmm? We're gonna go lift for a few hours." Holland said

"And who is going to wash the dishes then?" Talho asked as she entered the through the door.

Holland clenched his jaw, anger growing again. "We'll do it when we come back." He said through gritted teeth. As he passed by her. Renton following, eyes downcast. Everyone just stared at the two retreating figures moving farther away.

* * *

After lifting for a few hours, Holland felt his spirits lighten up. He and Renton were doing the dishes that they said they would do when they got back on the Gekko. They washed the dishes like usual. Renton washing and Holland drying. They worked in relatively comfortable silence, when the question Renton could no longer hold in broke the silence between the two

"Hey Holland, do you like miss Talho?" Looking down and avoiding his face as much as he continued to wash the dish, concentrating on the dish more then needed.

"What?" Holland replied in a bored tone.

"Like… Do you like, like miss Talho." Asking more clearly.

Holland just chuckled at the question. "No. I don't. Only as a friend, Renton." He finished with a smile on his face.

"Oh, because it seems like she really likes you." His voice quieting a little.

"She's always acted like that, even from the first time we met." He replied brushing off the questions he was getting assaulted with. The two finished the dishes within a few minutes, and they parted ways for the night.

AN: Uhmm i kinda got braindead at this point so i had to end it here.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I am SOO SOO SOO SORRY. I never thought that it would be that long until i updated and to make it worse its a crappy short one O.O I'm a horrible person! With everything that going on in life and all, BLEH. I even had to type slow because of the broken wrist D= This chapter isn't one of my favourites but necessary. Once again I'M SORRY!**

**Disclaimer: Once again I OWN NOTHING.**

* * *

When Holland entered his room he began to strip himself of his clothing to nothing but his boxers. Deciding that a shower was needed after a few hours of lifting, heading to the aforementioned area, striping his last piece clothing, turning on the water to a luke-warm and stepping. Feeling his muscles loosen as the warm water cascades down his body and letting a content sigh, doing the usual routine. Wetting hair, shampoo, conditioner, and lathering up his body with suds, letting his thoughts wander on a certain brunette. "_Hm, Renton seems to be getting better at lifting, more faster then I thought he would. Especially when no one was actually teaching him how to. Those bright blue eyes just seem to radiate happiness when he pulls of the moves correctly." _Holland let a small smile creep up on his features as he rinsed off the last of the suds. Turning off the water and reaching for his towel, wrapping it around his waist and stepped out of the shower. Getting another towel from on of his bathroom drawers to dry himself off while going to look for some clean boxers. "_At least they're all washed."_ He mused to himself.

Going over to his drawer of clothes he opened the top one and looked a bit surprised on how stuffed it actually looked, almost unable to close. "_Uggghhh, I guess I should have took more time putting them in rather then just shoving them in. Whatever, re-organize that later." _Carefully pulling one of the boxers out, trying to not make them explode in his face from pulling too harshly and quick. After successfully acquiring one boxer he quickly did a fully dry with the towels and slid the boxer on, pushing the drawer back in was quite a difficult task. Pushing with half-hearted attempts of _pushing_ the contraption and still not budging. Slightly aggravated by the lack of co-operation he was getting with the pieces of wood nailed together that hold his clothes, pushing with a little more effort, but with the same occurrence that happened. Nothing. Now more aggravated pushing with A LOT more effort trying to get it to go in.

"UGH, What the hell!" Displeasure, exertion, and a bit of confusion in his voice.

A few more forceful pushes and the drawer snapped back, slightly panting now going over to his bed, plopping down on the mattress with little grace, ready for the darkness and unconsciousness of sleep to take him. A feeble knock on his door had him open one of his eyes. Remembering the earlier events of the day with Talho, he wouldn't just say "come in" because it might be Talho again and he was way too tired to put up with her. He was little more prepared this time.

"Who is it" He asked lazily.

"Uhh. It's me Renton." Came a soft reply, a bit muffled by the door.

"Mm, Coming" Slowly getting off the bed to open the door, dragging his feet along the carpet, too lazy to lift his feet. When he opened the door, he was honestly surprised….. Renton stared back at him with big pleading eyes, a pillow and the sleeping bag in his arms, and bit of a red hue on his cheeks. "_He looks like a little kid that lost his dog, It's kind of adorable." _He thought aimlessly. He quickly shook his head the rid of the thought.

"Uhmm. Ca-can I sleep here tonight, I know that the kids are going to do something to me when I'm asleep!" Renton rushed it out so fast the Holland's eyebrows rose to his hairline, wondering how anyone can speak that fast.

Schooling out his features from surprise of the amazing speed talk. "Uhh, wouldn't you want to see if Eureka would let you sleep in her room?"

"NO WAY! The kids sleep with her and who knows what they'll do to me if I'm sleeping in the same room?!" He all but shouted with the same rushed speed talk. "I would maybe if the kids weren't there." He quietly added.

"Uhmm." Honestly Holland's mind was a complete blank because he had been in a situation like this one before. "Okay?" The word came out of his mouth before his mind actually processed what it actually implied. "_Crap, didn't mean for that to happen." _But he opened the door further and moved to the side to let Renton in.

"You're actually going to let mew stay?" Renton asked incredulously, shock written all over his face.

"I guess?" Holland had absolutely no clue what he was doing.

Renton took a timid step forward not really expecting that he would be allowed to stay. He thought that maybe he would get laughed at and maybe a door slammed in his face, but never had he expected in all of his time on the Gekko that he would be able to sleep in the same room as their leader and his idol's room.

Still standing at the door with it still wide open and in a state of stupor, unknown to what had just happened, finally snapping back to reality seeing Renton standing in the middle of the room staring back at him, silently asking him where he should sleep. Chuckling to himself for dazing out like that.

"You can sleep on the couch tonight." As he went back to his bed and plopped down in the same ungraceful manner as before. Grabbing the blanket and throwing it on himself

"Okay." He made his way to the very funky looking couch and put his pillow by the armrest and let his sleeping back drape over the rest of the couch, slowly climbing onto the couch and getting ready for sleep. Holland couldn't help but peek open his eyes, but what met his eyes made his face heat up quite a bit. Renton was climbing onto the couch with his ass facing directly for Holland to see. Quickly closing his eyes pretending to sleep, feeling his heart erratically. "_Why the hell am I acting like this?" _He thought. Suddenly cut out of his self hating thoughts by the voice of Renton.

"Goodnight Holland….And thank you" The brunette said as he turned to face the back of the couch.

"G`night, and don't mention it." The grey-haired man tried to keep a steady voice.

As the time past and silence was almost deafening to Holland unable to sleep, now that Renton was sleeping just a few feet across from him. Still keeping his eyes closed, the only sounds in the room was the breathing of both their bodies. "_Why the hell can't I sleep when Renton is in the room? It's not like he's doing anything. He's sleeping like I should be._"Holland sighed. "_Maybe I'll just count sheep until I get bored out of my mind and fa-_"

"Holland?" Holland snapped his eyes open, terrifyingly appalled by the fact the Renton wasn't asleep yet and caught Holland's ragged breathing patterns of not being able to fall asleep.

"Yeah?" Trying to sound sleepy but failing miserably. Cursing himself mentally.

"I can't fall asleep." The brunette sounded surprisingly awake, like Holland.

"I can't either actually." The grey-haired man heard some rustling of fabrics and knew that Renton sat up, so he did the same.

"Do you….Wanna watch some TV? It might us fall asleep." The brunette offered and the grey-haired man swore he could see a small genuine smile across the brunette's face through the darkness.

"Sure, come over here and pick a channel." The grey-haired man reached over to his nightstand and picked up the remote, and turned the TV on. The brunette got up from the couch and took the pillow with him, walking over to the bed. The older man shifted back a bit so that Renton could sit down. The younger sat down on the bed with uncertainty and turned a bit to the side to receive the remote the older man was holding out. Slender fingers wrapped around the remote and for a brief second the fingers connected, the older man tensed, the younger didn't really notice the contact and retracted his arm back and started to flip through channels. Finally settling with a lifting tournament (Not really a surprise there.) the grey-haired man relaxed his muscles and settled on watching the show.

Renton was sitting cross-legged and hugging his pillow while Holland was lying on his side with his hand holding up his head, the grey-haired man wasn't really paying attention to the TV but watching the brunette's head slowly bob up and down, slowly dozing off and eyes slowly shutting closed. After watching this for just a couple of more seconds the brunette tipped to the side and fell over, very soft snores could be heard from Renton. The older man leaned over and thought "_He's out cold._"Looking over to the couch and then back at Renton, he sighed. The grey-haired man sat up slowly to make sure not to stir the boy, reaching out and putting one arm under Renton's neck and the other under his legs. Lifting him up slowly "_Wow, he's so light._" He thought, placing the younger by the pillows at the top of the bed, in the position he should be in when sleeping on a bed, covering both the boy and himself in the blanket, and laid himself down on the other side. Too lazy to get the remote from the floor to turn the TV off, he left it on, it was on low volume anyways. Closing his eyes to finally go to sleep "_This isn't that bad…..It's actually….alright._" As darkness and unconsciousness took him into a blissful sleep.

The grey-haired man woke to something tickling the side of his face, soft with even intervals of the same tickling feeling. Groggily opening his eyes, blinking a few more times to get rid of the blurriness, as his vision focused slightly he noticed that there was a pale porcelain looking figure in front of his face, eyes finally adjusting to the light of the day, the figure finally clicked in his head that it was Renton. "_Renton?….What's he doing here?_" Events of last night flooding back to his head. "_Oh._" Letting his eyes gaze in the boy's face. "_He looks so peaceful._" Reaching up to touch the brunette's cheek, letting his fingertips leave feather light touches. "_It's so smooth._" The brunette instinctively leaned into the touch, letting out a soft comfortable moan. Bringing his hand to go through the brunette's hair, petting the silky brown tresses. The boy stirring from sleep, quickly withdrawing his hand back, a moan of protest escaping his slightly parted lips and pressing himself more into the missing comfort of the hand, again letting another soft moan escape his lips. Realizing on what he was doing, he slowly took deep relaxing breaths.

Feeling his own body relax, the grey-haired man quietly laid in the same spot, trying to think of the best way to get off the bed and in the bathroom without causing the boy to wake. Deciding that it didn't matter as long as Renton didn't wake. Slowly pulling the blanket off and moving to the foot of the bed. Once his feet touched the floor, he tried his best to move as quickly and quietly as he could to the bathroom. When at the aforementioned destination he quickly peeled off his boxers, he stepped into the shower and turned the water on warm. Letting the artificial rain relax his tense muscle. Sighing as the massaging effects of warm rain cascading down his body. "_Ugh, what am I doing? He's just a boy and I'm practically twice his age. Well the least I can do is keep it down low….Very low._" Letting his thought wander as he methodically washed and cleansed his body.

Emerging from the bathroom he noticed that Renton was sitting up on the bed with a blush adoring his features and staring back at the grey-haired man. He was clad in only a towel around his waist and another draped over his shoulders, slowly drying his hair with one end of the towel. They stared at each other for a while, neither having any thoughts just a blank expression on both their face except for the red dust that coated the younger's face.

"I-I'm sorry! I fell asleep on you bed!" The brunette suddenly blurted, startling the grey-haired man and breaking the silence.

Brain still not working, standing there still drying his already dry hair. Letting the words sink in, until they finally registered to him what the words meant, the only intelligible thing he could utter was.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry…." Trailing off and looking down at his folded hands across his lap.

"Huh?" Still not knowing what the apology was for, actually not knowing what was going on at the moment. Stuck in the endlessness of a stupor.

Silence ensued the room that the two were occupying, one sitting on the bed, eyes downcast while the other still in his stupor drying the non-existent water from his hair.

"I'm sorry." The brunette muttered softly barely audible for anyone to hear, but the grey-haired man heard it loudly In the silent room. As the words sunk, finally registering them for what they meant snapping out of his stupor.

"Oh." Realizing that his hair was no longer wet and that he was just rubbing his hair, letting his arm drop to his side. "Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter anyways." seeing that Renton really was sorry for falling asleep, (Which he didn't know why) he quickly changed the subject and turned towards the accursed drawer that held his boxers. Walking to it and reaching for his hand to pull the handle. It didn't budge. Scowling at the piece of junk and pulling again…. not succeeding in his goal.

"Hey" The grey-haired man said, keeping his eyes on the drawer.

"Y-yeah?" Looking up from his hands and looking at the older man, confusion and questions unspoken in his eyes.

"Can you help me pull this out? It's kinda stuck." When the grey-haired man thought back to last night, he shouldn't have tried to shut it close if this was what would happen.

Reluctantly Renton got off the bed and headed over to he drawer that Holland was standing in front of. Putting his hand on the handle to see if the drawer was actually stuck, He gave a weak pull and saw that it didn't budge. The brunette looked up and met ice blue eyes.

"On the count of three?" Asking for confirmation.

"Yeah, Okay…." Unsure how this would go

"One."

"Two." Both tightening their grip.

"Three!"

Pulling with all their might, they didn't have time to react as drawer flew open, neither one of them could keep hold on the now flying object. It all happened in slow motion for Holland as he watched the top drawer fly open and soar through the air right above both grey and brown hair and barely had time to register that he was falling backwards, all he could do was watch it go flying past him the everything inside flying everywhere in every direction possible. And just like that, there was a loud crash as the top drawer connected with the wall and shattering into pieces of crude wood. The former soldier found himself sitting on his backside, trying to process what just happened. Blinking just a few more time to bring his mind back in order and he was looking beside him. Renton was on his back with a pair of boxers half on his face as he stared up at the ceiling looking like he was also trying to process what happened.

"Uhhhh..That went well..I guess. You okay Renton?" Looking at the brunette as his gazed was still fixed on the ceiling.

"Uhh." Was the most intelligent he could say at the moment. Finally averting his gaze from the ceiling and looking at the man beside him, there were two things that caught his attention. One - There were boxers everywhere, and two - There were some on Holland's head. He couldn't help the laugh that was bubbling inside of him that was going to come out. Slowly the brunette sat up and chuckled at the look of pure confusion and a pair of boxers situated on a head of grey.

"What's funny?" The grey-haired man asked, not getting what was funny about the situation.

"You, you have….have…your boxers on your head, and….and your expression." He couldn't hold the laughter anymore as it bubbled to the surface and let it's song of jubilation play within the room.

Looking up and reaching up to gather the small material in his hand and bringing it to his face. Smirking when he looked at the still laughing teen. He bunched it up and threw it in his face.

"I'm not the only one who has some underwear on my head." Chuckling when the laughing stopped, the brunette reaching up and picked up the piece of cloth.

"Eww!" He gasped as he threw it in Holland's face.

"Hey!" The grey-haired man yelped and picked up another boxer lying around and threw the orange flowered boxer back in the brunettes face. With that retaliation, it started an underwear war. Rich laughter echoing past the door and right into the hall. Neither were aware of the person listening on the other side of the door. Green orbs seething with barely contained hate.

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